Big Increase Seen in People Lacking Health Insurance

[onehandle]

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 — The number of people without health insurance shot up last year by 2.4 million, the largest increase in a decade, raising the total to 43.6 million, as health costs soared and many workers lost coverage provided by employers, the Census Bureau reported today.

The increase brought the proportion of people who were uninsured to 15.2 percent, from 14.6 percent in 2001. The figure remained lower than the recent peak of 16.3 percent in 1998.

A continued erosion of employer-sponsored coverage was the main reason for the latest increase, the bureau said. Public programs, especially Medicaid, covered more people and cushioned the loss of employer-sponsored health insurance but "not enough to offset the decline in private coverage," the report said.

http://nytimes.com/2003/09/30/politics/30INSU.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1064898272-MZakCjvPNKWCrBX89ZKMqw

Meanwhile, outside of Treasongate....

[mhr]

1. Unemployed For 38 Months

From My Earlier Post, Same Topic.

No Health Care

No Dental Care

No Mental Care

Nothin, Nada, Zilch!

If I get sick and don't recover, I Die.

No one cares!

[eagler]

2. Employers need to be completely removed from the health care equation.

They should have absolutely no say in how employees are covered by health insurance. This is a national issue,and it needs to be handled on that level.

[TahitiNut]

3. dupe

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=139277

[Media_Lies_Daily]

4. I'm 52, self-employed, and have a family of four that ...

...consists my wife and two kids age 5 and 3. To get just plain old health and medical with no pharmacy, dental or vision, I have to pay $1060 every two months with a $1500 deductible and 80/20 coverage after that. To get a better plan, I will have to pay $634 per month with no deductibles, and it will include rudimentary pharmacy, dental, cancer and vision riders.

My family and I are this () close to being one of the 43.6 million uninsured.

Meanwhile, just like the rest of the insanely wealthy in this country, the insurance companies are raking in obscene profits.

Meanwhile, the Bushies want $87 billion for Iraq just for next year alone.

Meanwhile, the insanely wealthy are having to get along on just 45% of the tax cut they were really looking for from the Bushies.

Meanwhile, the hole in the ozone layer keeps getting bigger and more chunks of ice are breaking off of Antarctica, and the Arctic will be an open ocean in ten years.

What's wrong with this picture?